FOOTBALL

FOOTBALL; Where Coach Is Comfortable

By TIMOTHY W. SMITH,

Published: January 11, 1992

PONTIAC, Mich.—
Wayne Fontes was one of the National Football League coaches who entered this season on the hot seat. Eight coaches have since been fired or have resigned, but after the Detroit Lions got off to a 5-1 start, Fontes slipped off the hot seat and into the driver's seat.

Sunday afternoon, Fontes will be on the sideline at R.F.K. Stadium in Washington coaching the Lions in the National Football Conference championship game, one step from the Super Bowl. For his effort, Fontes was voted N.F.L. coach of the year by writers who cover professional football.

"It is an honor that is well deserved," said Bills Coach Marv Levy. "He's taken a team that has lost several key players to injury, gotten over a 45-0 loss in the season opener and taken it to the N.F.C. championship. I can't think of anyone more deserving."

During training camp last summer, Fontes was the picture of cool, either unaware, unconcerned or displaying a great poker face when he responded to a question about the prospects that he might be fired if the team duplicated its 6-10 mark of the 1990 season or 7-9 record in 1989.

"I'm not on the hot seat," he said at the time, hopping into a golf cart that ferried him to and from the practice field outside the Silverdome. "My owner has been patient enough to give us time to put together a winning team. I think we're heading in the right direction, and I think he's going to give us time to get there."

Even though he said that, the path was not clear then. After the 1990 season, Fontes dismissed two of his offensive coaches, Darrel (Mouse) Davis, the architect of the team's run-and-shoot offense, and June Jones, the quarterbacks coach. And the team was working on a new offensive scheme, which would involve more participation from running back Barry Sanders. But Sanders was sitting out training camp because of a contract dispute.

In their opener, the Lions endured a humiliating 45-0 loss in Washington, and Sanders's absence from the game because of injured ribs, was a harbinger of the ill fate that would beset the team this season. The Lions lost starting linebacker Mike Cofer in Week 3 to a knee injury and lost starting quarterback Rodney Peete midway through the season with a torn Achilles' tendon. On Nov. 17, offensive tackle Mike Utley was paralyzed during the game against the Los Angeles Rams. Coach's Squeeze Plays

Through it all, Fontes has consoled, cajoled and coached his team into the playoffs. His style is loose and personable, but with just enough bite to show the players who is in control. Players play for him, they say, because they like and respect him. But they know when he means business.

You've heard of Paul (Bear) Bryant. Meet Wayne (Care Bear) Fontes, the coach who never met a player he didn't hug.

"It's kind of unusual," Sanders said of Fontes's hugging. "It's good that he doesn't buy into the stereotype that coaches can't be emotional and can't show affection and appreciation for your efforts. It's good. You can really relate to him on a personal level."

Fontes, who is 52 years old, is of Portuguese descent, was born in New Bedford, Mass., and grew up in Wareham, Mass. When he was 16, his family moved to an ethnically mixed neighborhood in Canton, Ohio. He lived down the street from the singing group the O'Jays, and still sings their tunes in his office.

He developed his love of football while playing at McKinley High School in Canton, and later as an All-Big Ten defensive back at Michigan State. He played one season for the New York Titans (now the Jets), and a broken leg in 1962 ended his career.

Fontes then turned to coaching, making several stops before hooking up with John McKay at Southern Cal. He followed McKay to the N.F.L. and Tampa Bay in 1976 and stayed there until joining the Lions as defensive coordinator in 1985.

In the fall of 1987, Fontes pleaded guilty to driving while intoxicated after an incident in which he was originally also charged with possession of cocaine. The more serious charge was dropped, however.

Fontes watched Darryl Rogers grill on the hot seat before being dismissed with five games remaining in 1988. Fontes took over and Detroit went 2-3. It was enough for him to keep the job. Then he had to decide whether he was going to change his personable style and become more like the stereotypical aloof, stoic N.F.L. head coach.

"I remember when I got the job, John McKay called me up and he said: 'Wayne let me give you some advice. A lot of people get jobs and they change. They try to become a John McKay or a Parcells or Shula. Just be Wayne Fontes.'

"Just because Shula does it his way and yells at people and Ditka does it his way, I don't have to. I do it my way. I don't think anyone has ever seen me chew out a player on the field or chew out a coach on the field. When I come in the locker room and the doors close, I chew them out as good as any other coach in the N.F.L. It's just my way of showing my respect and they give it back to me." An Open Line on His Team

One way that Fontes has tried to show respect for his players is by seeking feedback from them.

"I do have a committee that includes eight or nine guys that I talk to every 10 days, and if things aren't going right, then maybe once every other day," he said. "I do have a committee and they do have a vote, but it's like a dictatorship. If my vote is a nay and their vote is a yea, then it's a nay. They understand that."

Fontes's being in accord with the players has taken the team a long way. Can Fontes keep a good thing going?

Sanders thinks so.

"We know that he's really involved in what we're doing," Sanders said. "He's not real standoffish. It's like a personal-relationship type thing. He's real comfortable and helpful with the players. He's always open to suggestions and things, whatever it is. He's always lifting the players. I think that's always good."

Photo: Coach Wayne Fontes, with his arm around the Lions' owner, William Clay Ford, after the Lions defeated the Cowboys last weekend. (Reuters)